On Homeschooling

I will be straight and honest with you all, because that is how I do it around here. I was homeschooled for a short period in my life. I also attended Christian Schools for a good deal of my life. I also happen to have Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder. I take medication for it. I will be very honest with you; homeschooling is not for everyone. I used the ACE curriculum and I will say emphatically that ACE Schools are not suited for Children with learning disabilities. Furthermore, I have very mixed feelings on Christian Schools; if they are staffed with qualified teachers, they can be a good experience. If not, they can be a nightmare. Believe me; I have seen both sides of that coin.

For those who wonder, the A.D.H.D. affects my ability to excel in math. I can plus and minus with the best of them. However, when it gets any tougher than that, I do the run for the calculator. I am getting better with it, as I get older; my checkbook is always balanced. However, I will not be volunteering anytime soon to be solving any sort of complex scientific problem. In other words, if NASA were relying on me to get to the moon, we would be lucky to leave the drawing room!

However, I happen to notice this article over at Salon.com about how homeschooling your children would be a horrible thing and a slap in the face to the big Government public school system. There are a few things, that stand out in this article and I will touch on a few of them. When a parent takes his child out of the public school system and decides to homeschool them, that parent is saying that the school system that he is enrolling in is a failure and that child is unable to learn in it. Which is ironic, because when my Mother withdrew me out of the Christian School that I attended to homeschool me, which was done at my request; I was saying the same very thing about the school that I was attending at the time.

Another thing that stands out in this article is the nuanced dog whistle assertion that if your child is homeschool that he will grow up to be some “right wing extremist militia” type. My friends let me be clear; that assertion is absolute hogwash. It just so happens that I only spent like 2 years in public schools. The rest of educational years were spent in various Christian Schools, and I when I turned 18 years of age and registered to vote; I voted Democratic Party up until the year 2008. Yes, I did eventually did change my political views. However, the changing of my political stance had absolutely nothing to do with my Christian Schooling or my Home Schooling; my change in political philosophy was warranted by the idiocy of what was happening in the Democratic Party in the 2007 primary. Furthermore, my departure from the status as a Democratic Party voter was the utter hapless treatment of our United States Military and its service members that served in it. There are many more reasons, but for the sake of brevity, I will just list these.

Therefore, to my fellow Conservatives, libertarians and tea party friends: do not be bothered by this article. It is simply a progressive buffoon attempting to keep the Government union-backed public sector employees employed. Perhaps it is a sign, that the progressive left is feeling the heat and fears losing the overall battle of the political discourse in this Country. This in this writer’s humble opinion would be a good thing. As the far progressive left, as far as this writer is concerned has driven this Country into a state of ruin, and on top of that, lied their way into controlling that car. It is time for change and for a new discussion — an erasing and washing of the blackboard, if you will. The progressive way of thinking and operating this Country has failed and it is time for a massive redo. The progressive left knows this and this is why articles like this one are being written.

Do not be dismayed by this, we on the right in this Country; on the righteous side of the political discussion are armed with the truth, the left only has lies and propaganda. We shall prevail and we shall be victorious. Homeschooled youth usually have higher IQ’s; excel in most subjects and go on to do many great and important things. I was not the rule; I was the exception to that rule. Just because I suffer from a learning disability, which was diagnosed long before I ever started schooling; does not mean the entire idea of a homeschooled child should be thrown out. To do this would be to take away a parents right of individual choice and that, in a Constitutional Republic is very unacceptable.

Others: American Power, Vox Popoli and The PJ Tatler

This is the way that politics used to be

I think that this is a great story.

Via NYT:

LAKE JACKSON, Tex. — Once there was a challenge of a softball game from the Ron Paul clan to the Mitt Romney clan. “They didn’t show up,” Mr. Paul says. “We didn’t schedule it. We really razz them about that, ‘You guys chickened out!’ ”

This is the way that politics should be today!

In a Republican presidential contest known for its angry rivalries, the Romney-Paul relationship stands out for its behind-the-scenes civility. It is a friendship that, by Mr. Paul’s telling, Mr. Romney has worked to cultivate. The question is whether it is also one that could pay dividends for Mr. Romney as he faces yet more setbacks in his struggle to capture the 1,144 delegates needed to win the nomination.

Ideological similarities among supporters of Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich suggest that if Mr. Gingrich dropped out, many of his backers would coalesce behind Mr. Santorum. But as Mr. Paul steadily collects delegates, one thing that remains to be seen is whether his affinity — at least on a personal level — for Mr. Romney could help the former Massachusetts governor as the fight drags on.

Mr. Paul, a 76-year-old congressman from Texas, sees his three Republican rivals as more or less the same politically. He can be tough on Mr. Romney, whom he describes as a flip-flopper with a dubious political core.

“He’s been all over the place on some of this stuff,” Mr. Paul said in a recent interview near his Texas home. But he seems to segregate those views from his personal feelings for Mr. Romney, whom he sees as a steady, dignified personality whose devotion to wife and family reflect his own values.

I would recommend that you head on over and read the rest of that; it is a truly great story of how two men who disagree on much and still are friendly to one another. This is the way that it was back in the days of Ronald Reagan, him and Tip O’Neil would fight like dogs during business hours and then after business hours, Tip and Ron would have a drink at the White House and discuss the days events.

Again, at the risk of sounding like a nostalgic old fogie, this is the way things were done in the olden days. When leaders were statesmen, and not the idiots we have today. We could learn much from these people of old, it is tragic that people like Ron Paul are not more followed in the way they do things. Not that I support all of Ron Paul’s policy positions, but his statesmanship is something to be admired.

By the way, yes, I did give Althouse a little grief on her blog; she is a two-bit phony, in my humble opinion. She gives Ron Paul and Mitt Romney grief for their kindness toward each other. I think Ann Althouse could learn a little about what true Conservatism is from Rep. Paul. Because it is surely not what she pawns off as Conservative; that is for sure. Sorry, but voting for a liberal socialist Democrat is not conservative, not even close.

Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab appeals his sentence

Remember this guy who got sent up the river?

Well, it appears now that ol’ Sabu here is not too keen on being the pivot man in the prison circle jerk.

The Story:

Detroit— “Underwear bomber” Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab appealed his life sentence Friday, one day after a judge issued the maximum penalty for trying to destroy a Detroit-bound airliner carrying 289 people on Christmas Day 2009.

The notice of appeal was filed in federal court in Detroit.

U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds sentenced Abdulmutallab to four life terms on Thursday, ending the country’s highest-profile terror case since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

“This court has no ability to control his motivation, which appears to be unchanged,” Edmunds said Thursday. “I can control his opportunity to act on those intentions.

“I believe he poses a significant ongoing threat to (the) safety of American citizens everywhere.”

Before being sentenced, Abdulmutallab’s legal adviser, Detroit lawyer Anthony Chambers, argued the mandatory life sentence constituted cruel and unusual punishment

via ‘Underwear bomber’ Abdulmutallab appeals life sentence | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com.

Like I wrote in my last entry about this idiot; we should have tried this terrorist puke in a military court. This murderous thug is not a uniformed combatant, he is a terrorist thug, who should be executed by firing squad, or better yet, with a damn rope and a tree. Racism? man, please. 🙄 Anyone who does what this little puke did, should not be affording any sort of respect at all. Least of all any respect of his race. 😡

But, now, as I wrote before, we will have to pay for this puke’s legal defense and pay to feed, clothe and shelter this little puke. Which is morally wrong, considering who and what he is, and what he tried to do. Which was not a ordinary criminal act, but an act of war. But your friendly neighborhood Marxists feel that he deserves the protection of the Constitution of the United States.

It is truly pathetic, it really is; here is hoping that we elect a President in 2012, that sees this threat for what it truly is and not a criminal one.

Terrorist Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab sentenced to 4 life sentences plus 50 years.

I wish it were the death penalty, but this is good:

DETROIT — The Nigerian man who tried to blow up a Detroit-bound airliner with explosives concealed in his underwear on Christmas Day in 2009 was sentenced on Thursday to life in prison by a federal judge who said his crime and subsequent lack of remorse demanded the maximum possible punishment.

Prosecutors sought a life sentence for Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who pled guilty to federal charges in connection with a failed bombing attempt.

The man, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, who pleaded guilty in October and admitted to working on behalf of Al Qaeda, shouted “Allah Akbar,” or “God is great,” five times during the sentencing hearing. He asserted that Muslims were “proud to kill in the name of God, and that is what God told us to do in the Koran.

via Would-Be Plane Bomber Sentenced to Life – NYTimes.com.

So, great, The United States of America is now going to have to feed, cloth, and shelter this little cretin for the rest of his life. This is why this trial should have been in military court, where he would have been sentenced to death. It would have been cheaper to do; than to do this here.

Here is the money quote:

Mr. Abdulmutallab, who wore a white T-shirt and tan pants, spoke for about three minutes. He claimed that Osama bin Laden and other Al Qaeda leaders who have been killed “are alive and shall be victorious by God’s grace.” He also said terrorist attacks would continue “until the Jews are driven out of Palestine.”

Frankly, I am shocked that the NYT even bothered to include that quote. But that right there is the crux of why we have Terrorism at all; because of our support of Israel. Someone needs to show Ronnie Paul that quote too. Because his bat-shit insane position on terrorism is the narrative of the left.

I have a strange new respect for Alan Dershowitz

I am very glad to see that someone on the left is taking a stand against the far leftists in the Democratic Party.

Unfortunately, I cannot embed the sound clip here, but I suggest that you go over and listen to the interview. (Hat Tip to Andrew Brietbart)

Here’s the story over at the Daily Caller:

Media Matters could become the Rev. Jeremiah Wright of 2012 for the Obama campaign if the White House and the Democratic Party don’t clearly distance themselves from the organization.

“Well I think if swing voters in the pro-Israel community had any idea how extreme Media Matters was on issues of Israel and supporters of Israel, they would regard Media Matters as another, you know, Rev. Wright,” Dershowitz told The Daily Caller.

“And for many, many in the pro-Israel community, it would be a game changer.”

Dershowitz went so far as to suggest that Media Matters’s rhetoric on Israel, particularly from Media Matters Action Network senior fellow M.J. Rosenberg, is similar to what one would find on a neo-Nazi website.

“When I started reading their stuff it sounded like the kind of stuff you see on neo-Nazi websites,” Dershowitz said. “Or on Hezbollah-supporter websites. It is so extremist. The thing that shocked me is that anybody regarded it as mainstream.”

Media Matters did not respond to a request by TheDC for comment.

Dershowitz said he is not on Media Matters’s email list and is only aware of the language they use when discussing Israel and Israel’s supporters because of emails sent to him from what he identifies as a neo-Nazi website, ReportersNotebook.

“You know where I get their stuff? I read their stuff mostly on a neo-Nazi website that sends it to me,” he explained. “Somehow I am on their mailing list. I am not on Media Matters’s mailing list. But I tend to read Media Matters articles when they’re sent to me by a neo-Nazi website.”

The man behind ReportersNotebook, Michael Santomauro, denied that his email or blog is neo-Nazi in orientation, though he admits to questioning the narrative of the Holocaust and says he believes that Israel is a fascist state.

Though Dershowitz says he doesn’t think the Obama administration and Media Matters are close, he believes the White House has to clearly distance itself from the organization because Democrats like him cannot exist within a tent that tolerates Media Matters.

“The Obama administration cannot have Media Matters and me or people who look to me for advice,” Dershowitz told TheDC. “We cannot be in the same tent. The tent is not big enough to include us.”

I did some poking around on this Michael Santomauro guy. He either works for or owns this place here. He has some interesting views on Israel, 9/11 and Jews. He is essentially what I was accused of being; a Jew hater. His little attempt to come off sounding like some sort of academic does not fool me one iota.

What one must understand is this; the reason why this holocaust revisionist was reposting items that Media Matters was publishing, is that much of the far left and people like this person, agrees on their positions on Israel. He is correct in saying that he is not a Neo-Nazi, he is not; he is one of the growing numbers of people who are anti-Israel. This man is, frankly, one of David Duke’s types of people. Maybe not so much into the white sheets and hoods, but the Jewish hatred and bigotry is still there.

Sadly, there are those kinds of people on the right as well. One example can be found here. They call themselves “radical traditionalists.” I like to call them “Hi-Brow” bigots. They are Anti-Religion, Anti-Israel, and very anti-Jew. They speak glowingly of Hitler and Nazi Germany as well. This goes well beyond the Paleoconservatives/neoconservatives divide. This is Ron Paul and Pat Buchanan’s philosophy on steroids. They are in the same camp as Lew Rockwell and his ilk. Haters they are; and somehow they claim to be the “real” libertarians and those at places like Reason magazine are the phonies.

I was very reluctantly put the libertarian and constitutionalist party’s logos back on my blog, after disowning the GOP’s candidates; this here, of what I have written, is the main reason of that reluctance. Because there are just some within the libertarian ranks that are just straight up haters, and as I have written before, I just cannot deal with that nonsense. Further, the people that I have written of here are still fighting a battle that we lost long ago. What they are fighting against, is the elimination of the White Anglo-Saxon Protestant class of man. The problem is, we WASP’s for short; lost that battle eons ago. What bothers me is the fact that these people actually believe that hatred is going to change anything.

Hating on Jews, blacks and Latinas are not going to make them ago away. It is simply going to make you look like some paranoid idiot that fears those that do not look, act or have the money that you do. Maybe it is because I happen to be a Christian myself, is why I never quit understood the rational of these people; or it is because I grew up here in Michigan and was raised not to judge people by the color of their skin.

Maybe it is because I was born with something that seems to be lacking among these people — common sense.

Others: Big Journalism, Fox News and Facebook, Big Government, Patterico’s Pontifications, Big Journalism, Conservative Hideout 2.0, The PJ Tatler, Ricochet Conversations Feed, Big Journalism, Hot Air, The Right Scoop, Right Wing News, FishbowlDC, The Jawa Report, Patterico’s Pontifications, americanthinker.com, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, Betsy’s Page and Verum Serum, more at Mediagazer »

Is this the best that the AFL-CIO can do?

Shocker! Not. (Via InstaPundit)

Protesters at Friday’s “Occupy CPAC” event, organized by AFL-CIO and the Occupy DC movement, told The Daily Caller that they were paid “sixty bucks a head” to protest outside the Conservative Political Action Conference in Washington, D.C.

One protester told TheDC that all the “Occupy” activists were being paid to protest, and that his union, Sheet Metal Workers Local 100, approached him about the money-making opportunity.

“I have nothing nice to say about Local 100. … They just told me ‘you wanna make sixty bucks? So c’mon,’” the protester said.

Other “Occupy CPAC” protesters were unwilling to speak on camera because they were unaware what they were protesting and what the CPAC event was about.

via Occupy CPAC | Union | Paid | The Daily Caller.

Allow me to say this; as the son of a retired General Motors worker and retired member of the UAW —- is this is the best that the AFL-CIO can do for a protest? If this is the case, and I do fear that it is — then I do fear for the future of the labor movement. Because this is how lame, desperate — pick a damn adverb — that they have become. The once great AFL-CIO, which stood for the common man and made sure that crony capitalists were held in check; is now nothing more than a casting service for the far liberal left.

Another thing too; if the AFL-CIO is paying people to protest — my question is, what else are they planning on paying people to do? I mean, and I hate to be the one to say it — But these people are a part of the far liberal left, we used to call them communists. Anyhow, what else will they pay people to do? All I am going to say is this; it was a glitter bomb used here here recently on Mitt Romney, I just hope the secret service is up for the job. Because I will say this; in 1970 Walter Reuther‘s plane went down near Black Lake, Michigan. Most union people believe the plane was sabotaged. They also believe that the crony capitalists at the big three were responsible; I disagree with that. I believe the the communists did him in. Because in 1949, Reuther expelled the Communist-backed unions from the CIO. Who is to say, that they did not kill Reuther in an act of revenge? Communists, much like their brothers-in-arms — Muslim Terrorists — are very patient people and will wait for their moment of revenge, years if it takes that long.

Because you have to understand, these people on the far communist left; they know no valor, no morals — nothing. They are power hungry people and they have much invested in Barack Obama and they will stop at nothing to protect him. This is why I worry about whomever becomes the nominee of the GOP. Because in 2008, they had nothing really to lose. In 2012, it is another story; they have a whole bunch to lose. I am not saying that I have any sort of inside knowledge at all. However, I know these people and I know how they play their game. I just hope the GOP, the secret service and everyone else on the right is on their game. Because to be quite honest, in this election; I fear the worst. I don’t know why. But I do. You can call it a gut feeling that I have.

I just hope, for everyone’s sake — that I am wrong. 🙁

Daniel Larison to Syria: Don’t look to Kosovo

Interesting posting. Go read.

Catholics are not the only ones raising cain about the healthcare issue

The Baptists are raising a stink about it too.

There is this:

WASHINGTON (BP) — The issue at the center of the swelling controversy over the Obama administration’s refusal to protect the conscience rights of employers in its “contraceptive mandate” is “about as basic as it gets,” especially for Baptists, says Richard Land.

“Does the government have the right to intrude on the consciences of people to force them to pay for that which they find unconscionable? This goes contrary to our tradition in this country and contrary to our understanding of the First Amendment’s religious freedom protections,” Land said Feb. 9 in explaining what is at the heart of the debate.

“In my opinion, a Baptist needs to take a stand on this issue. Our Baptist forefathers went to prison and died for the freedoms that we have, and now it’s our responsibility in the providence of God to defend these freedoms lest they be taken away by government fiat,” said Land, president of the Southern Baptist Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission.

via Baptist Press – Land: Obama mandate is a Baptist issue – News with a Christian Perspective.

Then there is this, also via Baptist Press:

“I’d go to jail rather than cave in to a government mandate that violates what God commands us to do. Would you? Acts 5:29,” author and pastor Rick Warren wrote on his Twitter account Feb. 7 before adding, “I’m not a Catholic but I stand in 100% solidarity with my brothers & sisters to practice their belief against govt pressure.”

Like I wrote earlier about the Catholics; my advice to my fellow Baptists, do not settle for anything other than a FULL and Complete exemption to this rule. I have to admire the Baptists and other Christian who are showing their boldness in this very important issue. Although, I really wished they would have shown the same sort of boldness, on the issue of the Iraq War. But, at this point, I will take any kind of boldness I can get. 😀

Retreat: White House to offer ‘Accommodation’ to religious groups on contraception issue

That was quick….

The Video:

Video: New RNC Ad — Five Years Later

(Via InstaPundit)

The real question is this; would America be any better under a big Government statist Republican like Mitt Romney or Newt Gingrich…. or a Christian Statist like Rick Santorum?

I tend to believe that not to be the case.